U.S. Army warns of potential 'airborne' Ebola

Posted By *Jerome R. Corsi* On 10/15/2014

NEW YORK – While Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization
officials continue to insist Ebola cannot be transmitted by air from one
person to another, an Army manual clearly warns the virus could be an
airborne threat in certain circumstances.

The handbook published by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of
Infectious Diseases, USAMRID, titled “USAMRID’s Medical Management of
Biological Casualties Handbook,”
<http://www.usamriid.army.mil/education/bluebookpdf/USAMRIID%20BlueBook%207th%20Edition%20-%20Sep%202011.pdf>
is now in its seventh edition.

The most recent edition was published in 2011, with more than 100,000
copies distributed to military and civilian health-care providers around
the world.

On page 117 of the handbook, in a chapter discussing “Viral Hemorrhagic
Fever” (VHF), a category of viruses that includes Ebola, USAMRID says: “In
several instances, secondary infections among contacts and medical
personnel without direct body fluid exposure have been documented. These
instances have prompted concern of a rare phenomenon of aerosol
transmission of infection.”

Page 117 continues to specify: “Therefore, when VHF is suspected,
additional infection control measures are indicated.”

USAMRID recommends the patient should be hospitalized in a private room
with an adjoining anteroom to be used for donning and removing protective
barriers, storage of supplies and decontamination of laboratory specimen
containers.

WND recently reported
<http://www.wnd.com/2014/10/who-admits-sneezing-could-transmit-ebola/> the
World Health Organization, in a largely overlooked media advisory email,
admitted there are some circumstances in which the current strain of Ebola
in West Africa can be transmitted through coughing or sneezing.

“Theoretically, wet and bigger droplets from a heavily infected individual,
who has respiratory symptoms caused by other conditions or who vomits
violently, could transmit the virus – over a short distance – to another
nearby person,” the WHO Ebola situation assessment said.

“This could happen when virus-laden heavy droplets are directly propelled,
by coughing or sneezing (which does not mean airborne transmission) onto
the mucus membranes or skin with cuts or abrasions of another person.”

*Air-purifying equipment*

The USAMRID handbook recommends that for all VHF patients with significant
cough, hemorrhaging or diarrhea, the hospital room should be a
“negative-pressure isolation room” with six to 12 air exchanges, adequate
to pump air out of the hospital room on a constant basis through
bio-filters.

To make the point about airborne transmission of VHF viruses, including
Ebola, USAMRID says all persons entering the patient’s room should wear
double gloves, impermeable gowns with leg and shoe coverings for contact
isolation, eye protection and HEPA (N-95) masks or positive-pressure
air-purifying respirators (PARRS).

In the absence of a large, fixed medical-treatment facility, or in the
event of an overwhelming number of casualties when isolation rooms may not
be available for all patients, USAMRID recommends that at a minimum, VHF
patients should stay together in “a ward with an air-handling system
separate from the rest of the building when feasible.”

The manual notes that clinical laboratory personnel are “at significant
risk for exposure” and should employ a bio-safety cabinet when available,
with barrier and respiratory precautions when handling specimens.

*‘We have to consider the possibility’*

Dr. David Sanders, a top Ebola virologist and Purdue University professor
of biological science appeared on Fox News on Monday to discuss his
research suggesting Ebola can be an airborne virus.

“Our own research shows that Ebola Zaire enters human lung cells from the
airway side. So it has the inherent capacity to enter the lung from the
airway,” he said.

“I’m not saying that there’s any evidence that the current spread is due to
anything but bodily fluid contact, but we have to consider the possibility
that it can enter through an airway route.”
------------------------------

Article printed from WND: *http://www.wnd.com <http://www.wnd.com>*

URL to article:
*http://www.wnd.com/2014/10/u-s-army-warns-of-potential-airborne-ebola/
<http://www.wnd.com/2014/10/u-s-army-warns-of-potential-airborne-ebola/>*




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